Koba “Cobra” Gogoladze, of Philadelphia, PA, by way of the Republic of Georgia, defended his NABO Junior Lightweight title with an exciting ninth-round stoppage of tough Fred Neal, of Cleveland, OH, at the sold-out Dover Downs Hotel and Casino in Dover, DE.

Gogoladze (20-1, 8 KOs) sent Neal (17-4-3, 12 KOs) down twice before referee Gary Rosato rescued him at 2:34 of the ninth round in the scheduled 12-round bout. The seven-bout card was promoted by Banner Promotions.

Both fighters started slow, finding their distance and feeling each other out. The action began heating up early in the second round when a sharp lead right hand from Neal opened a cut on the bridge of the southpaw Gogoladze’s nose. The cut was not a factor, but would bleed for the remainder of the fight.

Round three was a big one for Gogoladze. Early on in the round, he landed a big right hook, followed by a straight left and another hook. Gogoladze was countering Neal’s shots well, and landed a right-left-right combination and another right-left at the bell. During the round however, Gogoladze was warned for delivering a low blow. He was also warned by referee Rosato for a late hit after the round ended.

Just when Gogoladze looked like he would start to dominate, Neal rocked his world with a pinpoint counter right hand to the chin midway through the fourth round. The blow buckled Gogoladze’s knees. He had been winning the round up to that point.

Gogoladze resumed command in round five, landing a big right hook to start the round, followed by a right hand-straight left combination that shook Neal. Gogoladze followed up with a barrage of blows, but Neal was able to avoid or block the brunt of them. Neal came back to land a real nice left hook at the bell. Gogoladze appeared to tire briefly after the energy he expended trying to put Neal away earlier in the round.

Both fighters had success in the sixth, with Gogoladze landing a nice counter left off a missed Neal right hand, while Neal landed a huge left hook to the head. Gogoladze followed with a big left uppercut-right hand combination to the head. His success was short-lived however. Ref Rosato deducted a point from Gogoladze for holding Neal’s head down several times.

Round seven was close, with Gogoladze boxing better and Neal showing more aggressiveness to go along with his pinpoint punches. Round eight was also close, as both men wrestled each other to the floor at the midway point. Also, a straight right hand from Neal opened a cut on Gogoladze’s right cheek.

The ninth round began ominously enough with Gogoladze landing a three-punch combination and Neal landing a nice right hand in the opening seconds. Then, with both fighters in ring center, Gogoladze fired a straight left out of nowhere that landed flush on Neal’s jaw. Neal went down for the first knockdown of the fight. He shakily got up at nine, but was immediately deposited on the floor again from a left to the body. Neal gamely rose and indicated that he could continue, but was about to go down again when referee Gary Rosato stepped in and stopped the bout.